Collision
by LeoN WiNgsteiN
Summary: A traveler from a territory not unlike Second Earth meets up with an Aquaneer-in-training from Cloral. A collaboration between LeoN WiNgsteiN and KingOfOwls.
1. Chapter 1

It scared Merc when the guy came out of the cave. It scared him more than he would ever care to admit. What scared him more was the feathers. The guy had feathers, his wings were huge, and he hardly fit in the cavern.

Merc had been exploring, scooting around on his skimmer. He had just been able to get it, being fifteen years old and going into the Early Aquaneers program. The program was designed to train people to be aquaneers, right out of school.

Finally able to go places, Merc had found a rock under the water. He had put on an air globe and investigated. The cave had air in it, trapped there from when it was above water, any years ago, long before Merc was born.

There was a strange light inside of it, which was strange because it was a cave.

There was a ledge on the left side of the cave. When Merc had swum over to it, he had found a set of clothes. They were standard clothes for a Cloralan, but they were very long. For someone very tall.

Merc glanced around, looking to see if there was anyone else around, when he heard the music.

It was the most beautiful music Merc had ever heard, and he vaguely felt that it must not have been Cloralan.

Then the light had come, and Merc realized that something very strange was going on. The light was swirling, bright, and was a color Merc could not put a name to. It grew larger and larger until the guy stepped out.

"Hobey…" Merc muttered. He hardly noticed the light and music fading into nothingness. This guy was taller than him by at least two or three heads. And the feathers…

There were feathers poking out of the guy's jean cuffs and from the back of his shirt. He swam out of the water and to the ledge, but did not see Merc, who was hiding behind a rock.

Merc almost jumped when the guy took off his shirt and unfurled his wings, which were white and stretched across the cavern.

When Merc realized he was watching this guy undress, he decided he should show himself. It would only be polite, even if this guy probably was only a figment of Merc's imagination.

"Hobey-ho," Merc said, stepping out from behind the rock. The winged teen jumped into the air and hovered there for a moment.

"Holy cow!" he exclaimed. "You scared the crap out of me!"

Merc stared at the guy as he touched down in front of him. He had no idea what a "cow" was, but he ignored the comment and asked, "How... What did you just do... What was the lighty musicy weird tum-tigger you just came out of?"

"You're talking about the flume... I have no idea how it works. I'm new to it."

Merc just stared. His question still wasn't really answered.

"So I figure you aren't the Cloralan acolyte?" The guy was putting on the Cloralan clothes, neatly folding his other clothes and stacking them on the ledge.

"Who are you?" Merc asked. "And do you have..."

"Yes, I do have wings. And my name is Eagle. Nice to meet you, ..."

"Merc," said Merc. "Welcome to Cloral, Eagle." He was still staring at the wings, which Eagle was folding and putting inside of the bodysuit.


	2. Chapter 2

This is KingOfOwls with your friendly neighborhood disclaimer: We don't own Pendragon or Maximum Ride. Just Eagle, Merc, and Archanium.

Chapter 2:  
3 Months before Cloral  
Archanium  
The School in Death Valley, California.

**Eagle POV**

I groggily opened my eyes to see the top of my dog crate. I stretched as well as I could, which wasn't very much, considering that I am 6'4", and my wings are 19 feet across.

Yes, wings. I am an experiment at The School, an illegal genetic testing facility in California. I am 4% Snow Owl, Resulting in large wings and feathers on my ankles, sort of like tail feathers. I hated the people who did it. The Whitecoats, as we call them, say that it's in the name of Science. But they love what they do. They enjoy our pain. They should be locked in cages. They had no right to do this to us.

I looked around to realize that it was dark outside of the small, dark window. I looked around, but I couldn't see anyone. I took a deep breath. "Anyone there" I questioned, before excruciating pain tore through my throat. I cried out, clutching my neck, and vaguely realizing that my voice was different. Sharper, like a hawk's.

That must have been why they took me. To experiment on my vocal cords. At least I was better off then the time when they experimented on the famous Iggy, part of the oh-so-famous Flock. They experimented on his eyes, and now he's blind.

The flock are a group of Human-Avian hybrids, all 2% bird, who were broken out of the school 4 years ago. They are legends. The ones who got out. I wondered if that's what happened to my friends.

We were a group of assorted hybrids, who were all in the same room. There were about 10 of us. But a few weeks ago, some of us were taken away and never came back.

The rest of us figured that they were "retired", which basically meant killed and dissected. But we held out on the thin hope that they had been released, as the other option… couldn't be an option.

But, now I was alone. The last one. I numbly wrapped my arms around my knees and stayed that way until I fell asleep.

When I woke up it was night again, but there was someone standing in front of my cage. I automatically tensed and said "Who's there?" The person leaned down, and I caught brief sight of a dark-skinned woman's face as she unlocked my cage. "W-who are you" I stammered. If a Whitecoat walked in, we would be killed. She looked at me for a minute, before saying, "Follow me." I hesitated for a second, before realizing that this was my chance to get out. I followed.

She lead my through the halls, walking silently but quickly. As she passed through a moonbeam I got a better idea of what she looked like. She was tall, thin and dark-skinned, and was wearing some kind of leather armor that looked like the kind of thing that you would wear in a desert. Slung across her back was a 6 foot long stick, slightly thinner in the middle then on the ends.

I followed her, noticing a few unconscious bodies on the ground. I figured that they were her work, but sped up a little bit just in case they weren't and there was something dangerous on the prowl.

We finally found and exit, and for the third time in my life I took a deep breath of cool, fresh air. She continued walking until we found a rock outcropping, which she walked behind before stopping.

"You are the one called Eagle, correct?" was the first thing out of her mouth.

"Yes. Who are you? Where did you come from? Why are you-"was all that I got out before she cut me off.

"My name is Loor. It is not safe here. Take this and go to the town of Stony Brook, Connecticut, and search until you find a large, abandoned house. It will glow when you find the right one. Go inside and go into the basement. I will meet you there and explain." She said, before holding something out to me. It was a ring. I took it and opened my mouth, but before I could say anything, she turned around and vanished into the night.


	3. Chapter 3

This is LeoN WiNgsteiN with another reminder: This is a work of fiction. Characters, corporations, institutions, and organizations in this Fan Fiction are either the product of the authors' imaginations, or, if real, uses fictitiously without any intent to describe their actual conduct.

Chapter 3

5 Years before Encounter

Cloral

Grallion

Merc never was comfortable with Cloral. He did like the planet; he of course hadn't been anywhere else, but he felt that there was something bigger, more important than his life there.

He had wanted to be an aquaneer all of his life. He had wanted to help people to get towards this greater purpose. Little did he know, this purpose was Halla.

***

Merc was ten years old. His sister, Vi, had brought him to the center district to Grallion, which wasn't in the center of the floating city at all, but the location of the shops and attractions. There, they had bought gerys, a kind of sniggers for kids. They had bought fish tacos and sat on the edge of the city, looking out at the endless ocean. It shimmered in the light of the sun, like a patch of snow on a nice winter's day.

Out in the distance, Merc could see a ship or another habitation, shining under the golden sun. Vi, who was fourteen and was soon to enter the Early Aquaneers program, was excited. So was Merc, who would be able to go all kinds of places with his sister.

He looked up to his sister, who he admired. _When I grow up,_ he thought, _I'm going to be just like her._

Merc looked back to the sea. The ship, for now he could see that was what it was, was much closer. It must have been coming for a shipment of food to take from Grallion to another city.

"Look, Vi!" Merc exclaimed. "Spinney fish!" In the water were four or five large, multicolored fish. Thy just swam around lazily for a moment before two people swam from under the city and grappled with the fish, riding them for a short while before being bucked off. The swimmers swam back under the city after the fish scattered.

Done watching the swimmers, Merc looked up out at the ocean again. The boat was very close now; it was close enough in that Merc could probably swim to it.

Studying it more closely, Merc realized that it was not a normal food barge. It had a large mounted on it, and was smaller but taller than a barge. It wasn't a food barge at all. It was a battleship.

Why, though, would a battleship be on this side of Grallion? The port was on the other side of the city. Reading its title on its starboard side, Merc also realized that Grallion didn't have this kind of ship, the T-90, since pirates had stolen one the year before.

Merc looked up to his sister and saw she was extremely pale, staring at the ship. "Merc," she said, voice expressionless. "We have ourselves a big tum-tigger right here."

Merc didn't know what to say to that. Even if he wanted to, though, he wouldn't have been able to. That was because a ball of water flew over their heads and slammed into the housing complex behind them. Both Merc and Vi screamed as debris and water rained down on them.

Merc heard the buzz of some skimmers being lowered into the water from the boat. The buzz became louder as they got closer to the city,

"Merc!" Vi cried, desperately moving towards her brother. "Merc!"

"Vi!" Merc called back. She didn't hear him because another water missile hit a repair shop of some kind and tools flew everywhere. As piece of shrapnel cut Merc's leg and it started to bleed. The saltwater from the water bomb stung it badly.

There was a clang as whoever came from the boat on the skimmers climbed up onto the city from the water.

Ignoring the pain in his leg, Merc backed up, away from the edge. Vi, who was a little ways away from him, also backed up. The clinking of the climbing pirates scared Merc, making him tenser with every sound.

Finally, when Merc was pressed up against the front of a now-demolished furniture store, the heads of the two pirates poked up. One was tall, blonde, and muscular. The other was shorter, overweight, and seemed to have drunk too many sniggers. They both were very terrifying.

The blonde one, who was obviously the other pirate's superior, scanned the devastated storefronts. Merc could tell he was a superior by the way that he carried himself.

The in-charge pirate spotted Vi and said, "Hello, girl." He smiled, shoeing two rows of perfectly white teeth. The smile sent a shiver down Merc's spine. It was a scary, malicious smile.

Vi stared at the man bravely and said nothing. She did not show her fear, if she had any.

"Do you speak?" the pirate asked. All he while, he was taking slow, deliberate, cocky steps towards her.

"Speak to me!" the pirate demanded angrily when Vi remained silent.

"Go away, pirate," Vi said calmly. She then spat on his chest. She completely maintained her cool posture, showing no fear.

This angered the pirate very much. He pulled out a high-pressure water gun and pointed it at her.

"No!" Merc cried. "Vi!"

The blonde pirate glanced at him but immediately looked back to his sister. Merc felt a tug around his waist as the other, fatter pirate whom he had forgotten about lifted him into the air.

"Put. My. Brother. Down," Vi said, staring straight into the eyes of the blonde one while clearly addressing the one holding Merc.

"No," the blonde one said. He raised his gun slowly and shot Vi through the stomach, sending a ball of water and blood to splat on the wall behind her. Her lifeless body fell to its knees before flopping to the ground, facedown.

"No!" Merc cried, and struggled to get free of the bad smelling pirate's grip. The blonde one turned to me.

"Now," the pirate said, putting away his gun. "I believe you have learned a lesson here today."

Merc stared coldly into his eyes, tears streaming down his face. The leading pirate's eyes were bright blue, but were cold and seemed lifeless. Lifeless, but strangely hypnotic.

"Never," he continued, "stand in the way of the pirate Zy Rodder." The big pirate dropped Merc to the ground. He and Zy Rodder returned to their skimmers, satisfied that their cannons had damaged the city, yet disappointed that there was nothing around worth stealing.

Merc went to his sister's lifeless body and sobbed over it until the aquaneers came to investigate. They pried him away from Vi's body, Merc still sobbing hysterically.

***

The call to Halla was not Merc's only reason to become an aquaneer.


	4. Chapter 4

KingOfOwls: I didn't feel like personally doing a disclaimer this time, so I hired an old friend of mine.  
Come on in!

Caboose: Enter from Stage Right. Hello People!  
Me: Caboose, not the stage directions! Just your lines! I though that Donut already told you that!  
Caboose: Donut? Who's Donut? Do you mean Private McMuffin?  
Me: What? Just read the lines, Caboose.  
Caboose: What lines am I supposed to read? Last time Private Cookie told me to read everything with my name in front of it. That is what I am doing.  
Me: I give up. I don't own Pendragon or Maximum Ride, just the Characters that I make up, and Archanium. I also don't Caboose. Which is probably a good thing, because a lot of the time you can't hear him over the sound of his frequent team killing. Well then, on with the story!

Chapter 4  
Eagle POV  
Immediately after the end of chapter 2.  
2:30 A.M.

I was left with a lot of questions, and no answers. I immediately wondered if I should trust Loor and go where she told me to. I sat down for a minute, to let myself think.  
She had broken me out of the school, which was good, but she had also left me in Death Valley at 2 in the morning with no supplies, no reason to trust her, and a ring. But, I had nothing better to do, so I decided to go to Stony Brook. Wherever that was.  
I took a closer look at the ring. My night vision is great, so I had no problem doing this. The ring was a metal loop, with some kind of flat black stone set in it. All around the edge there were symbols. I did a quick count and came up with 12. 12 symbols. That certainly had to mean something.  
I sighed and stood up, brushing dirt off of my pants, before making a quick list in my head. It read:  
1. Get food.  
2. Get new/more clothes.  
3. Get a backpack.  
4. Get a knife and flint.  
5. Find out where Stony Brook Connecticut is.  
6. Go to Stony Brook Connecticut.

It sounded good to me, so I broke into a run, before leaping in the air, spreading my wings, and stroking downwards. I lifted off, rapidly gaining altitude. I had only ever flown in a wind tunnel, for tests. This was different. It was great.  
For the first time, I knew what it felt like to be free.

1 Day before Cloral

I landed in the wood about a quarter mile from a large, abandoned house. Once down, I set off for the house.  
My list had worked without a hitch. Nearly. There had been a minor fight with some Erasers, but I had escaped with only a couple of minor wounds. I wondered how I would know where the right house was, but as soon as I walked out of the trees, my ring started glowing. I froze, staring at it. Something told me that this was the right house. I walked, in and headed for the basement. As I descended, the ring started glowing brighter and brighter. I reached the bottom of the stairs, and walked through the door.  
Standing in front of a large, rocky tunnel made of the same material as the stone on my ring, was Loor.  
"I knew that you would come" she stated.  
"And how's that?" I questioned.  
"I knew that you would come because that is how it was meant to be. But things are not right here on Archanium. I will explain more lately, but you need to go to Cloral and find someone. They will help you prevent the world from going the wrong way."  
"but, how-" was all that I managed to get out.  
"Go into the Flume and say 'Cloral'. You will be sent to Cloral. Once you are there, put on the clothes that you find. You will find the person that you need to save your Territory soon after arriving".  
"But why can't you help me? That way, you can explain everything, and I won't need to do anything overly confusing, and-"  
Loor said nothing, but turned around and walked into the tunnel- or "Flume"- and called out "Zadaa". A light started deep in the tunnel, and with a jumble of musical notes, the light expanded and enveloped her, before everything went quiet and she was gone.  
Now I was even more confused then before. I sat down to think, taking out some food at the same time. If I did what she said, I would be way out of my league. I knew what I was doing here on Archanium, but anywhere else, and I would be totally lost. But, if I went to this 'Cloral' I would be safe from the School, even though I was pretty sure that they didn't want me back that badly. I had been pretty much left alone since I had escaped the school. But this might be a dream… I was probably unconscious after some crazy experiment at the School, and had so many drugs in my system that I though that everything was actually happening. I sighed and packed up, before looking at the Flume. Safety, or a crazy adventure?, I wondered.  
I took a deep breath and walked into the Flume. By now, I was convinced that I was dreaming, so there was no harm in going along with it. I called out "Cloral", and the light and music came and swept me away.  
I had never really been someone who cared about what was safe and what wasn't.

Was it any good? If so, Please review! If not, Please REVIEW!


	5. Chapter 5

If I tell you this disclaimer, do you promise to read the rest of the story? No? Well, I'll tell you anyway. We don't own anything but the good parts of the story. We're parasites leeching off of others' creativity. But we don't care. We don't own Max Ride or Pendragon. We just own Eagle, Merc, Vi, the storyline, Archanium, and some other stuff.

Chapter 5

One hour after arrival on Cloral

Cloral

Grallion, Merc's Apartment

Merc, still disoriented from the strange and unexpected arrival of Eagle, unlocked the door to his apartment and led Eagle inside. Eagle immediately unzipped his top and unfolded his wings.

Merc offered Eagle sniggers. "What are 'sniggers'?" Eagle asked.

Merc was astonished at this until he remembered that Eagle was from a whole different world.

"It's a drink," Merc said. "It burns a little, though, just as a warning."

"Like whiskey?" Eagle asked.

"Err…" Merc had no idea what whiskey was. "Sure." He went to his kitchen and grabbed two sniggers. Eagle took his, took a swig, and winced.

He smiled and said, "It's better than what they gave me at The School. Thanks."

Merc also did not understand this strange remark. He hadn't been able to hear much of Eagle's story; the entire time from the cave to the apartment, Merc was busy explaining to Eagle how to use an air globe to breathe underwater and how not to fall off of a skimmer.

"What was that thing that you came out of?" Merc asked. He was undaunted by the burning taste of the sniggers.

"It's a flume," Eagle said, politely drinking his sniggers, scowling with every swallow, but being gracious as he continued sipping it. "I'm new to it, but apparently there are alternate worlds, each having a flume or two. I come from Archanium. It is an alternate Second Earth."

Merc was not following, but he nodded for Eagle to continue. He would ask questions later.

"Loor, the traveler from Zadaa, recommended me to come here. That's what I am. A traveler."

"So everyone from Archanium has wings?"

Eagle looked at Merc like he was stupid before realizing that this was a different world. He felt the same way that Merc did when he asked about the sniggers. "No," he said. "I'm very different."

Merc, seeing it was a touchy subject, did not peruse it further.

"So what now?" Eagle asked.

"I could ask you the same thing," replied Merc.

"Well, there's something I forgot to mention," said Eagle. "There's this evil dude out there, named Saint Dane."

"He's evil, but he's called a saint?"

"That's what I thought," Eagle said. "Anyway, he wants to tip the territories, the different worlds, into disaster. That's where us travelers come in."

"And where do I come in?"

"I have no idea. Loor, the traveler that I told you about earlier, just told me to come to Cloral, where I would find someone to help me."

"And that would be me?"

"I don't know."

"So why does this 'Saint Dane' guy want to collapse the territories?" Merc asked. He had finished his sniggers and put the bottle down on the table.

"I don't know," Eagle said. "But he's dangerous. Loor didn't tell me much."

"Hobey…"

"Yeah," said Eagle.

"I guess I'm going to ask the same question that I did before. What do we do now?"

"I know what I want to do," said Eagle. "Do you mind if I crash on your couch?"

"Err…" Once again, Merc did not know how to respond. "Sure."

"Thanks." Eagle went over to Merc's couch and laid down. He was asleep in seconds.

The Cloralan flume opened in an explosion of light and music. A tall, dark figure splashed into the water below it. The figure swam out of the cave, two sharks with yellow eyes following it closely.


	6. Chapter 6

Hello, everyone! This is LeoN with an apology for the late update. As you can tell, I'm the one who posts these things, so I end up doing these little talkey thingys at the top of each chapter a lot. KingOfOwls doesn't like to type.

Anyway, other than taking forever to write this, I want to tell you that it was KingOfOwls that wrote this chapter. Credit is given where it is due. In that same manner, I would like to say that Pendragon and Maximum Ride do not belong to us. We only own all that other stuff, the stuff we made up.

Chapter Six:

In the time after arrival on Cloral

Cloral

Grallion

Eagle's days on Grallion drew on, measured in days, then weeks, then months. He began wondering what Loor had been so concerned about. He did his job, and enjoyed it. Everything seemed to be going perfectly, until one day two months, three weeks, and four days after he arrived on Cloral. He was working, and, all of a sudden, there was a large boom and the habitat shook.

Eagle and Merc were thrown to the ground. "What the heck is going on!" shouted Eagle, and several people nearby showed agreement to his question. Eagle and Merc rushed to the edge of the habitat, peering over the edge.

"I can't see anything," complained Merc. Eagle smirked.

"Hawk eyes help. I can see them… They're using some kind of huge cannon. DUCK!"

Merc started staring around wildly, shouting "Where!" as another huge blast shook the barge. They were violently thrown off the habitat, and they came up sputtering.

Eagle, having to shout over the chaos, yelled, "We need to do something!"

Merc thought for a second, and then said, "Follow me!"

They went to the skimmer bay, getting air globes and buoyancy belts before jumping on skimmers and flipping the on and submarine mode switches. Eagle shouted, "What are we doing?"

Merc replied, "When raiders attacked and Pendragon was here, they put the skimmers into the water intake of the ship. They couldn't shoot! We're going to do that!" Eagle nodded, and they hit the throttle.

They quickly traveled the distance to t he ship, before stopping the skimmers on the bottom and swimming up to look at the bottom of the ship, trying to find the intakes.

Eagle found them, and alerted Merc with a loud shout of "Crap!" As Merc went to look, he was dismayed to see large, mesh covers to the intakes. Eagle punched one a few times, but nothing happened.

Merc frowned. "We have nothing that can cut this…" They swam down to the skimmers, demoralized, when all of a sudden, several raiders dropped off of the ship into the water. Merc shouted, "Run!", as Eagle shouted "Follow me!" They jetted off in the direction of the flume.


End file.
